Wrapping Up

Do you ever think about how much time you have left?

Are you bound to a wife? Do not seek to be free. Are you free from a wife? Do not seek a wife. But if you marry, you do not sin, and if a virgin marries, she does not sin. Yet those who marry will experience distress in this life, and I would spare you that. I mean, brothers and sisters, the appointed time has grown short; from now on, let even those who have wives be as though they had none, and those who mourn as though they were not mourning, and those who rejoice as though they were not rejoicing, and those who buy as though they had no possessions, and those who deal with the world as though they had no dealings with it. For the present form of this world is passing away. - 1 Corinthians 7:27-31

Paul's advice to the believers sounds a bit strange, radical even.  He tells them to stay as they are, if wed, stay wed, if not stay that way as well.

He is convinced there is little time left for this world, so don't make plans.

It is as though the doctor has just told him he only has a short time to live, and he is wrestling with priorities.

It is something we don't like to think about.  What if all the things I am worried about don't really matter because I will not be there to deal with them?

Who wants to think about that?

I wonder how the people of Corinth took Paul's message.  Did they accept his sense of urgency or reject it?

Certainly we today would reject it, since the world did not end in Paul's time, and we are probably convinced there is no rush now.

But what if Paul phrased it differently?  What if he told them to look at life as though they were leaving on a journey and needed to wrap up all they were doing?

If I am planning a vacation, I will do just that.  I will make sure the paper and mail are not delivered while I am away.  I will hand off my responsibilities at work to someone else.  I will let people know I will be out of touch.

Planning to be gone for a little while is something we all know how to do, but planning to be gone for good is scary, both for us and for those who love us.

So, we don't do it.  We don't talk about it.  We avoid any discussion of it.

And then one day, we are no longer here.

If we live our lives as though today may be the day, how will it change our priorities?  How will it affect our decisions?  

Will we do things differently?

Maybe we would hand more off to others, focus on enjoying our time together, stop worrying about the future.

Or maybe we would live in fear that this is the end.

How we address the reality of our mortality is what our faith is all about.  So, maybe we should take some time to think about it.

We prepare for everything else.  Why not be ready for this?

More to come...